Paris – Antisemitic gang robs Jewish family: “You are Jewish, you have money. We must take from the rich (…)”

The BBC reported on 11 September that in the North-Eastern suburb of Paris Livry-Gargan a Jewish community leader and his family became the victims of:

“what is seen as an anti-Semitic attack.“

The attack took place on Thursday night, when three men, two of whom were wearing masks, broke into the Pinto residence. The attackers beat Pinto’s son and wife. According to the family members, one of the attackers said:

“You Jews have money.“

The Pinto’s have told the police that their attackers, said to be dark skinned men in their 20’s or 30’s, took credit cards and jewellery and interrogated them for hours, trying to get them to reveal additional items to steal, threatening to kill them. It was only on Friday morning, several hours later, that Pinto managed to discretely contact police, causing the intruders to flee.

Roger Pinto – whom the BBC say is 78-years-old, but is said to be 85-years-old elsewhere – heads a group called Mouvement SIONA, which advocates for Jewish communities around the world, but especially in France.

i24NEWS claims to have interviewed Mrs. Pinto, who confirms that the family were detained. She also described anti-Semitic threats being made during the attack:

“They jumped on me and threw me on the floor. [They said]’if you scream, we’ll kill you.’ They repeated several times:’you are Jewish, you have money. We have to take from the rich to give to the poor.’“

The Pinto’s were taken to hospital for treatment, suffering some minor injuries, but deeply traumatised, according to a report by the National Bureau for Vigilance against Anti-Semitism (BNVCA). The report further called the attack “manifestly anti-Semitic and premeditated” saying the family were threatened with death and violently beaten.

On Sunday, the Council of French Jewish Institutions’ (CRIF) president Francis Kalifat, called:

“This horrible act [is] (…) the obvious proof, if necessary, that French Jews are particularly threatened in the street and, more recently, in their very house, which is even more worrying. After the atrocious murder of Sarah Halimi in her home, this new attack must bring the authorities in our country to a heightened vigilance and deterrence-inducing steps“

while the Union of French Jewish Students (UEJF) also condemned the aggression, saying:

“[we condemn] in the strongest terms, and denounce this particularly violent and intrusive anti-Semitic aggression that contributes to the rise of feelings of insecurity experienced by the Jewish community in France.”

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb promised a major effort to arrest those responsible:

“for this cowardly act (which) appears directly linked to the victims’ religion. Everything will be done to identify and arrest those who carried out this foul attack.“

Israel’s ambassador to France, Aliza Bin Noun, offered her support to the family, “firmly condemning this anti-Semitic attack.”

The BBC, which fails to report on the ethnicity of the suspects, uses quotes in its description of the attack as anti-Semitic, but does provide a list of attacks in recent years targeting Paris’ Jews:

“ 1. Sarah Halimi, a 65-year-old Orthodox Jew, was murdered in her apartment by a Muslim neighbour in April, in the 11th arrondissement (district).
2. Two Jewish brothers were cut and racially abused in a street attack in Seine-Saint-Denis in February
3. An Islamist gunman killed four people in a Jewish supermarket during the Paris attacks in January 2015, which included the massacre at Charlie Hebdo magazine
4. In December 2014 three armed burglars broke into a Jewish home in Créteil, southeastern Paris, and tied up a young man and his girlfriend, whom they raped. The family’s lawyer said the thieves had told the victims “you Jews have got money”.
5. A gang kidnapped and tortured Ilan Halimi, 23, in January 2006, then left him to die near Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois station. Gang leader Youssouf Fofana was given life imprisonment in 2009.“